Garden + lake days + bbq = summer

 This week was 100% summer. We are finally getting some good stuff from the garden – tomatoes and zucchinis mostly, but also a few green beans which Maren picks and divvies up and hands out.

Today we had a lake day, and came home and ate barbeque for dinner. I feel like you can’t get more summer than that :-)

Swinging

We are approaching a new milestone. Linden is learning to swing by herself:

The days of  “push me!” are almost over. I get nostalgic about a lot of things, and I am sad a lot of times when my little babies are not so little anymore, but this is one of those things that is just all good. I can’t wait to never have to push a kid on a swing again 😂

 

Hiking and playing

Summer is getting back to normal. On Monday it was Saskatchewan day, a holiday here, and we went for a short hike not too far from us – less than an hour drive. Jeff found a discarded snake skin and showed it to the kiddos. We also saw tons and tons of frogs, more than I have ever seen here. 

 

There has also been lots of time for playing. The other day Maren and Linden made a tent and “slept” in it, and Linden insisted that her old tiger costume was her pajamas. She also insisted that it still fits her even though it fit her much better when she was about 6 inches shorter, and she also kept complaining that she had a “huge butt wedgie.”  😂

Memorial celebration

 Last week we were in Toronto for Jeff’s dad’s memorial celebration.

It was good for us to be together with Jeff’s brother and sister, and their families. Jeff’s uncle and aunt also came for the day of the celebration.

It was a time to be sad together,

to look at lots of photos and remember,

for the cousins to get to know each other,

and for the grown-ups to be together.

We will miss you Alex ❤️

Windermere

 Thanks to everyone for your kind words and well wishes. It means a lot to Jeff and to me that so many people in so many places, many of whom we haven’t talked with in years, are thinking about us and sending love. 

Through everything, life goes on. We just got home from a road trip vacation, spending most of our time away with my mom, sister, and 4-year-old niece in Windermere, BC. We had a super incredible trip. Windermere is beautiful, I highly recommend visiting. We swam just about every day in the lake, saw eagles and osprey and turtles and a baby skunk, went canoeing through wetlands, hiking, lots of s’mores, and incredible mountain views the whole time. 

Then from there we went to the dinosaur Museum in Drumheller, then quick stop in Calgary at the US Embassy to get Maren and Linden American citizenship and passports, then one more overnight on the way, and then home. It was a super long trip but really felt like a vacation for the first time in a long time.

Some pictures: